Requests and advances
Approve online bookings yourself before they're confirmed, and ask for an advance. The time is held while you decide; you mark the advance received when it arrives.
Some bookings shouldn't confirm by themselves: a tattoo that needs a chat first, say, or a job you want to price before you commit. Switch on approval for those services and online bookings arrive as requests, with the time held for the client while you decide. An advance asks for part of the price before the visit; it comes to you directly, and you mark it received when it arrives. Both are set per service, for any kind of business.
Turn them on
Open a service in Calendar → Services (Sessions for a tattoo studio) and find "Before you confirm".
- "Approve each appointment yourself". The last word is your calendar's, such as "booking" for home services. Online bookings of this service arrive as requests; off, they're booked straight away. Bookings you make at the desk are never requests.
- "Advance to pay before the visit". The amount clients are asked for. On its own it holds nothing back: the client is booked at once and asked for the advance afterwards. With approval on too, the request holds the time while you wait for it, until the hold runs out (below).
The services list tags these services "Needs approval" and with the advance amount. Choosing a tattoo studio or home services as your kind of business opens this panel on each service, but leaves the switches for you to set.
What the client sees
On your booking page the service says you confirm first, and the last button reads "Send request" instead of "Confirm booking". The client's page and email say "Request sent" (the page says "Pay the advance to confirm" when an advance is due) and how long the time is held for them. The calendar invite comes when you confirm. Until your cutoff for online changes, they can withdraw the request from the same page; after it, they have to call or message you.
With an advance, the client's booking page asks for it. On a calendar priced in rupees whose Kard has a UPI ID, it shows the ID to copy, with a QR code to scan with any UPI app, or on Android phones a button that opens the UPI app instead. Otherwise the page says you'll tell them how to pay, so send them your payment details yourself. No email asks for the advance; on a request, the appointment's "WhatsApp about the request" opens a message on your phone that asks for it, with a link to their page.
Emails go only to clients who gave an email address; the others see each answer on their booking page, so call or WhatsApp them.
The hold and your answer
A request holds its time for 4 hours, counted from when it's made, or from when you next open if you're closed then, and never later than 30 minutes before it starts. One made at 8:00 PM to a salon that opens at 10:00 AM is held until 2:00 PM the next day. The appointment shows the exact time: "The time is held until…". Online, services that need approval can't be requested within 30 minutes of the start.
Requests show on Today, in the panel at the top ("1 request to approve", with "Review" for the full list), and with a "Request" tag on Upcoming for other kinds of business. "Approve" books it, and the client gets "You're booked" with the calendar invite. "Decline" takes an optional reason, which the client sees in their email along with a link back to your booking page. Neither can be undone. "Reschedule" moves a request, and its hold starts again from the move.
If nobody answers in time, the request is declined as "Not confirmed in time", the time opens up, and the client gets the email. It drops off Today, and nothing tells you.
Advances
When a client says they've paid, check that the money arrived in your bank or payment app. Then open the appointment and press "Mark received", or "Approve and mark received" on a request, which does both. The client gets an email and their page says the advance arrived, the takings count it that day, and when they pay the rest, "Mark paid" starts from the price less the advance. "Undo" sets it back to not received. Until it's marked, the appointment shows "Advance due", and on a calendar with Today, Today's list and the requests list tag the visit with the amount.
The calendar never takes or returns money. If you cancel or decline after an advance arrived, any refund is between you and the client, outside eKard, and the advance stays in your takings; if you refund it, press "Undo" on it to take it out.